Tonight we’re on the pool deck for a party as we sail to Patras, Greece. Today we had a great tour of Corfu with Corfu Taxi Tours. I had booked this tour several months ago based on the recommendations of folks on the Cruise Critic boards. Annette from Vancouver (from our Roll Call) came with us to see the highlights of this large and very green island. Corfu’s two main industries are tourism in the summer and olive harvesting in the winter.

Our driver (Miklos?) was just terrific. We journeyed first on some back roads to the higher parts of the island on the north end. We stopped at a viewpoint that overlooked one of the better beach areas on the island, known as Paleokastritsa. We then stopped at a roadside store and tasted olive oils and homemade wines; they had great prices on embroidered goods and other handicrafts. We saw other sights across the island, then had about an hour of free time in Corfu Town. We returned to the ship in the late afternoon.

Our weather has been great on this trip so far, other than the torrential downpour in Frankfurt. However, the temperatures in each location have been steadily increasing. Today in Corfu it was brutal, probably nearing 90 degrees with high humidity. We were dragging when we got back on board and we downed gallons of water. Steve and I promptly fell asleep on the verandah after sailing out (once we caught a glimpse of Albania across a narrow strait near northern Corfu); we decided to cancel our dinner reservation at Polo Grill (steakhouse), opting instead for a light dinner at the Terrace buffet.

We have no idea what is in store for our next four stops in Greece with the news that economic default is imminent. Our driver today said that there was a national strike today, but his company decided to work because their season is short. Our day in Athens on Thursday may turn into a bonus day at sea. It should be interesting. We sure hope it cools off a little bit (temperature and bad economic news).

Steve is trying to add a couple of pictures of Kotor to the blog. We’ll have more soon.